the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 224. the mays are 183. the previous question is ordered. -- the nays are 183. the previous question is ordered. the house will come to order. e

this vote the yeas are 226. the nays are 178. the resolution is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business -- the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from texas, mr. barton, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6190 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 485, h.r. 6190, a bill to direct the administer of the environmental protection agency to allow for the distribution, sell and consumption in the united states of remaining inventories of the over-the-counter c.f.c. epinephrine inhalers. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house

suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: the yeas are 229. the nays are 182. 2/3 not being in the affirmative, the rules are not suspended and the bill is not passed.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leaves of absence for mr. griffin of arkansas for the week of december 11 and mr. reyes of texas for today and for the balance of the week.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the requests are granted. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order.

the speaker pro tempore: members and staff, please remove your conversations from the floor. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? >> address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, earlier this

year -- mr. frank: i was critical on actions taken by the republican leadership regarding sponsorship of a bill. it's not my intention to rehash that but in the course of my discussion of that which was fairly spirited i accused mr. hensarling of having said something that wasn't accurate. i have had a conversation with him and i believe i have said it unfairly to him. i'm critical of what happened and i don't want to get into it. but i inaccurately impugned the actions to the gentleman, mr. hensarling and i apologize to him of accusing him of something that he did not do. the speaker pro tempore: jabbed -- the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? without objection. the gentleman is recognized for

one minute. >> like all of us in congress, i believe in the greatness of the american people and our principals and rights that have made america a beacon of hope and freedom. many yearn for basic human liberties. the people of western sa harrah have been trapped in oppressive conditions under the puppet regime. the front has instituted masked kidnappings of people from their homes into western algeria. they have been in prison in camps for 35 years. the front colbrates with the likes of cuba who ration food in the camp and indoctor rin ate children while partnering with al qaeda. they have a plan, which i will submit for the record that addresses these issues with a clear and democratic solution to

the sa harrah crisis. this is where america support should lie. mr. speaker, the united states can and must continue to advance fundamental human rights as we in this chamber continue to work together for peace, justice and human dignity in the western sahara. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. are there further requests for one-minute speeches? the house will be in order. members and staff, remove your conversations off the floor. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentleman from california, mr. miller, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. miller: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, i rise today with my colleagues to pay special

tribute to several members of the california democratic delegation. it whose service in congress is shortly coming to an end. these six members served this house and their constituents with dedication and deserve our gratitude for the hard work they have done on behalf of california and our country. representative joe baca who was elected in 2002, served for 10 years from the 43rd congressional district. representative howard berman elected in 1982 and served 30 years from the 28th district. representative bob filner sworn in this month as mayor of san diego and served for 20 years. representative laura richardson served for five years from the 37th district. representative pete stark, outgoing dean of our delegation was elected in 1972 and served more than 40 wreers from the 13th district. representative lynn woolsey

served for 20 years from the 6th congressional district. much kk said about the distinguished careers of our departing colleagues, but i would like to offer a few remarks of the work i have joined them during their time here in the congress. representative howard berman has served the house for 30 years and i was honored to name him among my closest friends in this body. during his service, he worked on a wide of variety of issues and known as a champion of human rights and standing up for middle class, working class and for the poor in our country. as chair of the foreign affairs committee from 2007 to 2008, mr. berman made great progress on behalf of the less fortunate. he was a leader in securing reauthorization of our global hiv-aids program to help provide access to preventive services for millions and authored legislation removing nelson mandela and other members of the african congress on the

terrorism list. finally he was a leader in raising concerns about human rights abuses around the world and key leader in bringing additional disclosure to the trade and conflict minerals that were financed the ongoing violence in the congo. he is a strong friend of israel and passionate about the need to achieve lasting peace and a broader coalition in the house of representatives. . i want to recognize mr. berman's work on behalf of immigration and those who emigrated to this country and his work on behalf of migrant workers and farm workers all across the united states. and for that effort he received the first annual farm worker justice award by the farm worker justice fund in 2000. like mr. berman, our dean, congressman pete stark, has spent his entire distinguished career in congress advocating

on behalf of those voices who were often drowned out in washington by the influence of the moneyed interest. over the last 40 years, congressman stark has been one of the foremost advocates on behalf on efforts to ensure that americans were able to access quality, affordable health insurance. i am honored to have been one of the three principaled co- authors in the house of the historic affordable care act which will provide quality insurance for every single american. the key role mr. stark in drafting that law and made sure that the law provided needed relief for working families. this was a crucial accomplishment, yet it was far from mr. stark's only accomplishment in the field of health care. as a former chair and ranking democrat on the ways and means health subcommittee for many years, he was a leader on the health care reform. he was a lead author of the original cobra insurance bill which ensured that workers faced with losing their jobs would not also immediately lose access to the needed health insurance. and those of us who have gone

through this recent downturn and recession in this country know from the testimony of our constituents how vital the access to cobra health insurance was to the health security for their families, to the financial security for their families. he also pie neared the efforts to make modern i.t. systems available and required within the health care systems of this country that will help us improve the outcomes of health care and hopefully drive down the cost of health care and provide better care for patients within this system. he i think along with sam gibbons of florida pie neared the idea that there should be medicare for all. and beat on -- pioneered the idea that there should be medicare for all and beat on that drum for a long time. it led to the improvements and passage of the affordable care act. he's also been obviously a campaigner on behalf of

fairness in our tax code. and it's unfortunate that he's retiring from the congress because maybe we'll finally after since 1986 that we've addressed this issue, there might be a chance to get something done in the next congress. but he paved the way on so many of those issues. finally in my remarks at this moment, i'd like to highlight the work of an outstanding democrat on the subcommittee on work force protection of the education and labor committee and that is congresswoman lynn woolsey. congresswoman woolsey knows their struggles. four decades ago she was a single working mother supporting three children. she knows about the economic security of families. later as a resource manager she knew things like working families are still fighting for like paid leave, paid sick leave, retirement and health care. serving as chair and ranking member of the work force protection subcommittee, lynn

woolsey was instrumental in helping to get the lilly ledbetter fair pay act signed into law and military families dealing with military deployment and injury. lynn woolsey was a partner to ensure coal miners are kept safe and healthy on the job. she went underground in a coal mine with our late colleague donald payne to require firsthand knowledge of how the workplace works and the environment in which those miners go to work every day. in the classroom, lynn woolsey continues to fight for women and working families. she was -- i want to say harsh, but i will say tough advocate. making sure that women were represented in the stem fields and the careers and women and young women had access to the sciences and to technology and to math and engineering. lynn woolsey worked to ensure kids had access at every education -- every education opportunity and a well-rounded curriculum to meet their social

and emotional needs. american families have benefited from lynn woolsey's fierced a vow casey. harsh, spirited. that's our advocate, lynn. i will miss here contributions on the education committee for the years to come. she's fought tirelessly to protect the environment. most especially in the sonoma coast of san francisco bay and hopefully the president will follow her lead and designate further protections of our ocean and marine habitat in that area of our precious coast. i am very grateful for the members for the work they have done for america's middle class and the struggles -- those who struggle to join our middle class. the work they have done on behalf of their constituents and on behalf of the citizens of this country. they all came here to achieve accomplishments, to achieve success on behalf of their constituents, on behalf of this country, and they've succeeded. and i want to thank them so very much for their service, for their sacrifice, for the ingenuity, their innovation and

i would say with these three for their spirited, tough, harsh, relentless pursuit of what they believed in terms of public policy and on my own behalf, i want to thank -- on behalf of our delegation and tens of millions of constituents that we represent in california, i want to thank representative baca, berman, filner, richardson, stark, woolsey for their service and their dedication. now i'd like to recognize other members of our delegation for the purposes of remarks. and i'd ask unanimous consent that i can revise and extend my remarks. mr. honda. i'll say to the members i think we have five or six or seven people. so however you use your time, be mindful of other members seeking to speak. thank you. mr. honda. mr. honda: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker, it's with heavy

heart but with great that i rise today and thank my departing california colleagues whose service will end at the end of 112th congress. pete stark is well-known for speaking his mind and standing up for what he believes in while giving a voice to the concerns of many who often feel as though they have none. he has helped millions of americans keep their health insurance coverage after leaving their jobs. ensure people who visit emergency rooms receive help regardless of their ability to pay and help in the affordable care act. he enacted legislation to increase the number of computers in our schools. he's been a champion on broad environmental issues like battling ozone depletion, carbon emissions and has been a proponent of peace. i am honored to gain work in fremont and hope his legacy. and his son, fish, who wrote

and was published as an on ed piece independent -- op-ed piece indicating the true side, the real side of pete stark, his father. howard berman is widely known as a leader on foreign affairs, who will stand out in my mind, however, is his help while chairman of the committee on foreign affairs in moving through the committee in the house -- in house resolution 121. it was a resolution calling upon japan to apologize during the imperial army during world war ii, women forced into sexual slavery. he achieved justice for those who suffered atrocities in the past and his leadership will be missed. i also want to thank him for his leadership on the issue of pat tillman, soldier who was -- he lost his life in a firefight when in fact he was killed through -- and i want to appreciate that. lynn woolsey came to congress

with a compelling story about how with the helping hand from her government she was able to raise three children by herself and have a successful career serving the people of marina and sonoma counties. she's been a tireless voice for family-friendly policies, for protecting the coastline of northern california and for bringing our troops home and ending the misguided wars in iraq and afghanistan. lynn was a leader of the congressional progressive caucus and i call her the mom of the caucus. and her passionate voice on progressive issues, she will be missed. her leadership will be missed and it will be a great vacuum for us to fill in the future. bob filner had a years' long odyssey for filipino veterans who fought along u.s. troops in world war ii but were denied benefits through their service. so the war -- the united states congress broke its promise it had made to these veterans and for decades to follow, they

struggled to secure fair treatment, similar to that afforded to the men who fought alongside them. as chairman of veterans' affairs committee, bob filner was in the middle of this fight. i wish him well as he moves on to a new phase to his service to the people of san diego. jose baca, or joe baca, has been a friend of mine for a long time. school boards and all other elected offices, but since we served together in the california state assembly to the halls of congress, joe was chairman of the congressional hispanic caucus while i was chairman of the congressional asian pacific congressional caucus and we stood together to fight against harmful english-only and anti-immigrant legislation in amendments. we also share a commitment to protecting the rights of native americans. particularly tribal sovereignty. joe has been a good friend. i will miss him regularly on the house floor. perhaps in a couple of years we may see him again. i will miss laura richardson

who i have had the pleasure of working with on anti-bullying issues. and end the fight to make sure that lbt families are recognized in our -- lgbt families are recognized in our family laws. and i move to a slightly larger accommodations and he was a strong voice on behalf of his central valley constituents. we also are bidding farewell to a large number of our california republican colleagues who served for many years. bilbray, mary bono mack, mr. galilee, wally herger, jerry lewis and dan lungren. while we all certainly haven't agreed on many policy i shallies over the yours -- issues over the years, i know they were committed to their constituents. and my california colleagues will be leaving at the end of the 112th congress, i wish them well. mr. miller: might i inquire of

the chair the time i have left? the speaker pro tempore: 46 minutes. mr. miller: i want to yield to congresswoman lois capps. mrs. capps: i want to thank george miller for setting aside this hour and he just asked the amount of time and i take that to heart. we could all go at great lengths to all of these dear people who won't be with us in the next congress. and i add my congratulations for their service to republicans and all the democrats, all of us alike. but i will speak now for the six of our democratics colleagues who on behalf of them who will not come back. and i want to start with our dear friend, lynn woolsey, who because of whom i get compared, my progressive constituents often say to me, now, lois, why don't you vote more like lynn wolsy votes? and she -- wooledsy votes? and she was one of the first people i met.

her story was compelling. as a woman member of congress, i don't know how it would be to raise kids by herself. she's a great voice and advocate for all mothers, all working families and particularly those who carry extra burdens themselves. she's put her heart and soul into her work in congress, and it shows. as i met you early on when i came here, i knew you were kind and befriended me. i know you served your constituents in the same passionate way. and i thank you for the role model you've provided me. howard berman has provided another kind of role model for me. my husband before me came to congress in part to work on middle eastern issues. and there's a go-to person in this congress that i always relied upon for advice and support in that area, and that's howard berman. he's a congressperson's

congressman, in my opinion. and my human rights watch folks have held him in such high esteem. it's been a very great honor to serve almost as a neighbor to him. with his district in the central valley, san fernando valley, and mine on the coast, it's been a real joy to have him as a colleague here, and i will treasure always his role in getting me elected and also keeping me here. . i came to congress from the health care field, so the name i heard often was congressman pete stark. and been here since the 1970's. knows all about health care and i'm pleased, mr. stark, that you have been here through the passage of the affordable care act. that's a crowning jewel for you

and all of us. but you have been through many health care ups and downs over the years and been a role model for me being on the ways and means committee and the house committee in energy and commerce. thank you for your service and friendship. it is hard to go through this list. mr. miller, this is a wonderful privilege to say thank you, the countless hours that you could add up for the service to constituents and the tremendous leadership within this body and these members who have given their all and will not be back at the 113th. it's important to say their names and to honor them and give them credit for what they have done. joe baca has been a fixture for the central valley and agriculture, someone who has agriculture number one in my district as well. but there is much to remember

joe baca for and his contributions in agriculture and the financial services committee as well. my colleague, former colleague, bob filner, who has already assumed another position within our government, as mayor of san diego. i think of bob filner and i think of veterans' issues and he was a college professor before he came to congress, as my husband was and reached out to each other in that capacity. he has worked hard on veterans' issues. i have 50,000 veterans in my district. so the g.i. bill is often something i can give him credit for and work with my veterans with. and finally laura richardson, it's my daughter's name, but i think of her beautiful singing voice and to my colleague who has given tremendous leadership within the congress as well, but you'll take your beautiful voice

with you. i have been able to work with laura on transportation issues as they relate particularly to our ports, because she is known for her work with the port of long beach and i have ports in my district as well. and will be missed on the women's softball team. we are friends here. we are colleagues here. we bring our human qualities. and we bring our leadership skills. and the california delegation makes me proud every day and in the next congress, it will be the memories and the service that has been given to us from these colleagues of ours. and that's why i thank you, mr. miller, for setting aside this hour for us to share our thoughts. >> i saw that andrew and hunter are here. the stark kids. i would like to yield to congresswoman barbara lee. ms. lee: thank you very much.

and i want to thank you, congressman miller, for organizing this special order tonight. first to congressman pete stark, who is our departing dean of the california delegation, congressman stark represents a district right next door to my district in the east bay of california, northern california. i just have to say, i have known congressman stark since i was the president of the black student union at mills college in the early 1970's. and i will never forget this. i wrote then my congressman stark a letter on behalf of the students at mills college with a request and he responded so quickly. and replied to that request in a positive way. so on behalf of all those students then, congressman stark, and on behalf of myself today, i just want to say thank you, thank you for demonstrating what exemplary constituent service was all about.

i have known congressman stark probably more than most members here because i had the privilege to work with a great statesman and known congressman stark during that period. we always say we have some of the most outspoken and well informed and engaged people in this nation, and congressman stark certainly has been at the forefront of making sure that his district became closer to our federal government and brought the government to the people of his district. and so the east bay thanks you, congressman stark yt and our entire delegation thanks you for so many years of great public service. i was fortunate to be on the house foreign aquares committee with chairman howard berman. and i tell you, howard berman's understanding of global affairs is unmatched. also, i just have to say, he was such a tremendous asset in our

global fight against hiv-aids and really got it so early and helped us negotiate and put together the bills that have been so successful in moving us toward an aids-free generation. i have to say with regard to chairman berman, i appreciate his fairness and his objectivity and his commitment to global peace and security. it's an honor to have served with him and i'm going to miss him because i honor him as my friend and i know all of us are going to miss him. but i know we will work with him in the future on so many issues that he cares about. congressman filner is leaving a strong legacy of support for our nation's veterans who have benefit touchdown tremendously from his knowledge and impassioned add vow cast si. congressman filner was a freedom rider and brought the spirit of justice to his work here in congress. congressman filner has done an

exemplary job as ranking member and chair of the veterans affairs committee, as we have heard earlier and our entire caucus can be proud of his outstanding leadership. and as the daughter of a veteran, i understand very deeply those obligations that our nation has to those men and women who have served. i had the privilege and honor to help in his campaign and i have been in san diego with bob, the love and the affection that his constituents have for congressman filner is just really unparalleled. i want to congratulate him for his magnificent win. it was a tough campaign, but he did an unbelievable job and that's because people in his district really knew him and he had provided the level of services that allowed him to be elected now as -- we will call

him very soon, mayor filner. joe baca, congressman baca, has been a voice for the poor and underserved during his entire career, not only here in congress but in the california legislature. i was privileged to work with joe on many, many issues, and he has been a consistent voice, both in the california legislature and now here in congress, for protecting low-income families from unfair predatory and credit practices. he has used his seat on the house agricultural committee and house financial services committee to help the most vulnerable americans. he has consistently played a role in raising funding levels for food stamps and nutrition programs to feed over 44 million hungry americans. he was a powerful voice against anti-immigrant laws and built bridges on the history of our nation.

we will miss his principal leadership and his passion for serving as a voice for the voiceless in congress. and my fellow congressional black caucus member, laura richardson, she has many accomplishments during her brief time. she has worked hard to improve our nation's infrastructure and been advocate for inclusion of minority and women-owned businesses and opened up economic opportunities and strengthened our schools. i know she is going to move forward to make more contributions in public service because she is focused and dedicated elected official. i have to pay tribute to my sister, lynn woolsey and i can't say what a bittersweet season this is after seeing you work so many issues. lynn woolsey has made sure that this body recognizes that peace is patriotic. and she has spoken 444 times on the floor as it relates to the

needs to bring our young men and women home. and i look forward to our continuing work. she has been a role model for me. and i have to say finally in conclusion, she understands the importance of the safety net and brought the perspective that comes from relying on public assistance during lean times in her life and gave me the courage to talk about my time on public assistance, which was so difficult for me. to all of our departing members, i'm going to miss you, but we'll see you at home and will continue to fight the good fight. mr. miller: i would like to recognize congresswoman matsui. ms. matsui: i would like to thank the gentleman from california, mr. miller, for yielding time to me and bringing us together. mr. speaker, when the 113th congress starts next year, we will be greeting many new colleagues and we'll have to say

good-bye to some of our current colleagues both republican and democrat. we are saying good-bye to six members, representative stark, berman, woolsey, filner, baca and richardson. while in congress, these members served a strong advocates for their constituents for california and for our country. for the many years of service, these six members have ap depth of institutional knowledge that will be missed come next congress. first of all, i want to pay tribute to my good friend, congressman howard berman. howard berman has served for 30 years. i first met howard when he was living in my hometown of sacramento. he was serving in the state legislature at the time. his daughter and my son were in pre-kindergarten together, so we would see each other as we dropped off our kids. little did we know then that we would end up being friends, both

serving here in congress. you know, we have all learned a lot from howard. we have learned to depend on him, his counsel and his advice. his knowledge and leadership, particularly on foreign affairs have been invaluable to congress. his absence from this chamber will be strongly felt and he will be sorely missed, but will forever be a friend. congresswoman lynn woolsey, has been a strong advocate for families during her time in congress. she was also one of the founding members of the out of iraq caucus where she acted as a leading proponent of bringing our brave servicemen and women home from war. she fought for those whose voices were often not heard and for add vow cast si and spirit will be missed.

as the dean of the democratic california delegation, congressman pete stark has been a leader and mentor to many members from california over the years. he has been a chairman on health care issues for a very long time and his work on the affordable care act improved the law and helped ensure all americans access to affordable and quality health care. we will remember his very important contribution. congressman bob filner, ranking member on the committee of veterans affairs and helped to ensure owe returning veterans have the services they need. we'll miss him here in congress, but i know he'll make a mark as mayor in the city of san diego. joe baca has been a strong advocate for california's agricultural industry while in congress. he has worked on behalf of the workers themselves, making sure they received the civil and

legal rights they deserved. congresswoman laura richardson has worked hard to keep america safe as a member of the homeland security committee. her constituents are unwavering and she will be missed next year. california is a large state with many needs and priorities, but our delegation is strong. during the time in office, these members have been esteemed colleagues and it's been an honor to work along side of them. their knowledge, passion and commitment to public service will be greatly missed in these halls. and i wish to thank each of them for their service and wish them the best in the next adventure. i yield back. mr. miller: i recognize congresswoman eshoo.

ms. eshoo: i want to thank -- did you want to know how much time you had left first? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has 29 minutes. mr. miller: we're fine. thank you. you're fine. ms. eshoo: thank you. i want to thank the gentleman from california, my dear friend, mr. miller, for organizing this special order tonight. so that we can take some time, which is the most precious thing really that god gives us is time. and pay tribute to our colleagues who have spent their time being giants in terms of representation and fighting on behalf of their constituents, bringing honor to the house of representatives and to our country. some of the best exports of the bay area and of our state of california. i want to start with the dean of

our delegation, congressman pete stark. we salute you, pete. for all that you have given and done. it's an extraordinary record for 40 years in the house of representatives. your name has been synonymous with health care, consistently for all of that period of time. for fighting for a place in that health care system, for people that are unknown to so many in our society and rejected. you made room for them in the emergency room. and wrote a law that no one would be mistreated. in fact they have to be treated before they were asked whether they had health insurance or not. your record is replete with great and good things. on behalf of your constituents, on behalf of those that so much

of society has overlooked. and i know that those blessings will come back to you in a very rich and meaningful way as you depart this place. we will miss you. and i thank you for your personal kindnesses, for all the wonderful things that you have done. and the bay area delegation will miss you enormously. next i want to pay tribute to howard berman. to congressman howard berman. this is really hard to do. congressman berman's name is synonymous with the following, with farm workers and their rights. with human rights around the world. anyone that has met and worked with him respects him. it matters not what side of the

aisle they have ever come from or what country they come from or what agency they have worked in. howard berman is -- has been the indispensable member in this chamber. when he took over the leadership of the foreign relations committee we saw a new and inspired leadership there, demanding a recognition of the armenian genocide. and he served as the original co-sponsor of that legislation. his record is replete with distinction. replete with distinction. and, howard, in our delegation i don't think there's anyone -- we will all miss you in a very, very deep and special way. this house will miss you because you brought honor to it in

everything that you have done. so it is bittersweet. no, it's just bitter. there isn't any sweetness to it. but i know that when i speak of you and really can't bring enough words to one of the most distinguished records over 30 years that any member of congress could ever put together , that the american people thank you, freedomlovers and human rights advocates around the world appreciate and bless your name and i know that together with janice, with lindsay, you haven't seen the last of us. we're going to keep coming after you. and to lynn woolsey, my classmate, we came here, we couldn't even find our way to the credit union. we were so terrified. but together we came and lynn

has brought an exceptional voice to families and to women. so often women heading up those families. and she spoke through the prism of her own experience, which is the most powerful story that anyone can ever tell. no one could ever say to lynn woolsey, you don't know what you're talking about. because they knew that she lived it, that she had experienced it and she came here to change so many women's lives, the lives of families, in terms of education for women and girls, for stronger family benefits. i could go on and on. and she brought great voice and vision to the unfortunate policy , the march to folly, when we invaded iraq.

she came to this floor over 100 times to speak against that invasion and we are all -- we are all in her debt for her conscience, for her integrity, for her wonderful voice, for her friendship and for the -- her love of the environment of the coast of california. which if there is ever the magical touch of almighty god, you see it there. and she has called on the president and the congress to make sure the protections will be there for -- in perpetuity. we will remember you in per pute, lynn, and i -- perpetuity, lynn, and i ask that every bless you brought to your -- blessing you brought to your constituents in this house will come back to you. to our republican colleagues, jerry lewis, elton gallegly,

wally herger, mary boneow mack, dan lungren and david dreier, we thank you. i thank you for your service to the people of this country in this, the house of the people, the magnificent house of representatives. thank you. mr. miller: i'd like now to recognize the leader, the democratic leader, congresswoman nancy pelosi. ms. pelosi: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank you for yielding, mr. miller. i know that we have a time limitation so i will begin by associating myself with the remarks of congresswoman eshoo who speak so -- spoke so beautifully and knowledgeably about our colleagues who are leaving from -- who are from california, who are leaving. i rise today to thank my colleagues who are friends and our partners from the great state of california. the members we honor in this special order, i'm going to just

do this because it's way down low. demonstrate the extraordinary divert of our great -- diversity of our great state. they hail from the greater los angeles area to san diego. they bring california's wide range of interests and aspirations to the floor of the house every day. working side by side with the entire california delegation, their service, our service has been -- has strengthened the golden state, the commitment of our departing members has strengthened the congress, their achievements have advanced the character of our country. each of these members has brought a unique voice to the table, yet each shares the same core values, a devotion to public service, a dedication to opportunity, a belief in a promise of america. congresswoman woolsey spent her career fighting to improve the education of our children, the economic security of their families and the protection of

our workers, as well as that coastline. with her departure i won't -- departure, i won't say retirement, because she's not a retiring person, the bay area loses a powerful advocate in congress and the nation loses a tireless progressive leader. it was i think mr. miller who said 400 times that lynn woolsey came to the floor to speak against the war in -- our involvement in the war in iraq. thank you, congresswoman woolsey. so it's about the patriotism of this congress and of the participation as patriots of our colleagues from california. whether it's the education of our children, whether it is the health of our people as demonstrated by congressman pete stark. we all owe you, pete stark, a great debt of gratitude. he has been a fixture in the fight to build and strengthen the pillars of health and economic security for the american people from his seat on the ways and means committee to

the house floor, he always remained a fierce fighter for medicare and for a passionate advocate for the affordable care act, because he believed that health care is a right for all americans, not a privilege just for the few. his legacy will live long and have stronger support for the well-being of our seniors, our families and middle class. i hope it is a source of pride. i know it is to your family. that so many of your colleagues respect you so much. and honor your leadership and service here. as has been mentioned, congressman filner left us, he's already the mayor of san diego. he was a freedom fighter who fought for civil rights and equality. he was a representative of san diego who never waivered in support of our veterans and he served as the chair of that committee. we wish him well as mayor of san diego. congresswoman richardson has dedicated her time in congress to rebuilding infrastructure, advancing the dream of high speed rail, securing our borders

and protecting our environment. we wish her well as she goes forward. congressman berman, we go from b to w. berman to woolsey. and every wonderful thing in between. has spent a -- congressman berman's imprint can be found on legislation across the broad spectrum of issues before the house. many of us knew him long before he came to congress, knew of his work, working with farm workers, working labor law to protect the rights of workers. and two particular areas, his expertise is simply unsurpassed. he's a true expert on international relations, a past chairman of the foreign affairs committee, ranking member now, a champion of aid to israel, a fight against hiv-aids, and the toughest iran sanctions in the history of our country. he is a senior member of the judiciary committee who it's safe to say understands intellectual property, understands their importance, even mentioned in our

constitution, and he understands the challenges and the opportunities they present. and every venue and every arena he has been a proud advocate for los angeles and california. a cherished leader for the entire house. joe baca is a lifelong public servant, a paratrooper in the u.s. army, look at this, the 101st airborne and the 82nd airborne divisions. he served california state legislature. he made his mark standing firm against harmful and an ty immigrant measures and leading -- anti-immigrant measures and leading on food stamps. it's fraught with meaning. a lot of work and leadership he put into it in the farm bill. joe baca came from humble beginnings, yet his accomplishments are truly significant. the list goes on and on of our colleagues that congresswoman

eshoo mentioned. all of these members, public service has been a calling, a cause and a core facet of their character. california has been proud to have them as our representatives in congress. for those of us who served with them, it's an honor for each of us to call you colleagues. for some of us, a very, very special honor to be considered your friend. we all wish you -- we each wish of you much success in the years ahead. we look forward to coming -- continuing our work together on behalf of our great golden state of california. your service in congress added to the luster of our golden state. thank you and congratulations. mr. miller: i thank the leader. if i might inquire of the time available. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has 15 minutes remaining. mr. miller: next i'd like to recognize congressman sam far -- farr.

mr. farr: thank you very much, mr. speaker. and thank you, george miller, for setting aside this time. you've heard from a lot of my colleagues. i think what is interesting about this moment in history is this is probably the largest retirement ever of any delegation at any one time. california is losing 25% of its incumbent delegation. seven republicans and seven democratless. that's 14 people that have been here and of the seven democrats, they were here for historical moments of electing nancy pelosi from california, the first woman speaker of the house of representatives, and here to pass the first in history comprehensive health care bill. led by californians, i might add, and led by the dean of our delegation, pete stark. pete stark is one of the oldest, longest serving members of congress, been here 40 years. i think there's only two, three people that have served here longer and he's watched this delegation come and go since 1973. he's here tonight with his

beautiful family and it's a wonderful, interesting -- pete, of all the people coming into congress, is the only one that came just right from the private sector. most of us got elected to local and state governments. but pete came right here right out of, you know, the background at m.i.t., in engineering, and then a degree from berkley in business administration in 1963. he founded the security national bank of walnut creek which became during the war years known as the progressive bank and the bank that was going to loan to people that weren't otherwise getting loans. and he became a very popular leader in his community, built the bank into a $1 billion financial institution. having a background in the air force and other civic activities, he ran for congress and got elected and has been here, as i said, for 40 years and he's here tonight with his children. he also has four daughters and three sons and eight

grandchildren and married to deborah rod rick, also of california. . we are going to miss pete. followed also by howard berman from southern california, background at ucla and law degree from ucla. i was a staff member when he was a california legislator. he came with a background in vista and got elected to the house and has been the leading ranking democrat, probably the most trusted person in congress for foreign affairs. and with his background in labor issues for farmworkers in california and advances they made under federal law. but also as the speaker pointed out, as the leader pointed, one of the few persons that understand patent law,

copyright, trademark, all those things important to the entertainment industry and the manufacturing, electronics industry and information technology industry. he has been a senior member. so we're going to miss him deeply, deeply. i feel like a son of howard berman. he ran for the state assembly. i'm going to miss him. lynn woolsey's 10 terms, senior to me. i got elected six months after lynn got sworn in. i remember how proud i was of her background in local government and roles she played in sonoma and marin county. and she has spoken 440 times speaking for peace. going to be leaving this body known as the lady of peace and will be here in history forever

and ever. and i remember bill clinton recognizing the backgrounds of people and lynn woolsey was the first woman elected to congress who as a single mom had to be on welfare and worked her way out of that and leading role to show that there are opportunities for you -- for all people in this great country. but the lady of peace is the most important of all. bob filner, background in local government. went back to local government after being involved in school districts and now the mayor of san diego and came here as a freedom fighter in the civil rights movement and led the veterans committee here. joe baca will be known as the captain of our baseball team and how he did so well in that, but had a proud background as the speaker said, in the air force

and paratrooper and the list goes on and on. laura richardson is leaving us. and before this, early resignation of dennis cardoza. seven democrats. going to miss them greatly and thank you for allowing me to speak on behalf of their great service to the federal government. mr. miller: thank you, mr. farr. i want to also as congresswoman eshoo and congressman farr acknowledged, there are others from the other side of the aisle who will be leaving after this session of congress. brian bilbray, marry bono mack, david dreier, wally herger, jerry lewis and dan lungren. we have had accomplishments together. jerry lewis and i had the longest floor debate over the creation of desert national

parks, mohave desert national parks. when we were done, he was opposed and i was for it, but he made sure the public had access to it and visitor centers. members of congress do -- this isn't just a working relationship. over time, you get to one another's families and know their children's successes and desires and trouble that befalls american families. people don't think of that when they think of the congress and you build relationships and friendships and depend on one another's expertise to guide us through all of the issues that we will confront in a congressional year. congressman stark and myself, we enentered public policy -- public life together by running

against one another in 1969. man against machine. i know who it was, this very popular banker and law school dropout. other than that, doing well. but it's a long-standing friendship and it's about family and our ability to talk with one another. and i would like to yield to congressman stark for any remarks he would like to have. mr. stark: thank you, one of the previous speakers mentioned -- you forgot to mention this that i probably had one of the best five-minute speeches of any new member of congress and if i could learn a deliberate lesson in 20 minutes, i would have a great career here. george is right, we ran against each other and when you grow up in the bay area and you have people like barbara lee who was

the lone vote in one of the most unpopular wars, you learn what courage is and people who fight for children, for minorities, for all of the people in our area who need help, i'm proud to have worked with them. they have said that i'm the oldest member of congress. that's absolutely wrong. i'm the 430th youngest member of congress. and i just want to make sure you get that straight in the record. thank you, george. i'm honored and i'm particularly honored to be part of this great bay area delegation. and 10 districts surrounding the bay area, we have the finest legislative group in the united states. thank you very much. and i yield back. mr. miller: thank you very much. as we all know in this life, members leave the congress, don't leave public life and i expect we will be hearing from

them as they leave the congress in their future endeavors. mr. bilbray wants to clean up the sea and dan lungren would like to take down -- and i know wally herger is concerned about the watershed of the parks of our state. their advocacy goes on and that is true on both sides of the aisle. ms. woolsey, if you would like to say anything. ms. woolsey: thank you, george, for doing this. thank you for honoring us that have been here and are now leaving. i arrived feeling very green and feeling very good 20 years ago. i had no idea how little i knew about how to get something done in the congress.

i know i burned in my belly and knew what issues were important to me and they have stayed important to me for the last 20 years, but i had the advantage of working with some very wonderful senior members who generously helped me along and i had the privilege of having very talented staff who built the stage that i could dance on. you can't do that unless it's team work. and i thank you, everybody that's been part of these last 20 years. it's been quite a ride. and i'm glad i did it. thank you very much, george. mr. miller: mr. speaker, that brings to a conclusion our delegation's honor of those members leaving. this is not news to members of the house that on a bipartisan basis, this is a very, very spirited delegation on both sides of the aisle. and a lot of seniority is

leaving the congress with this delegation, a lot of expertise, but i'm very proud to have served with all of them. and for their contributions and sacrifices they made in public office on behalf of public policy that they strongly believe in and became advocates for. with that, i yield back. i recognize mr. berman who is here and thank again him for his service and yield back the balance of his time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from tennessee, mrs. blackburn, is recognized for 60 minutes as the majority -- designee of the majority leader. mrs. blackburn: i thank you, mr. speaker. and i appreciate the designation

of the time and appreciate the opportunity to come to the floor tonight and discuss the issues, the very serious issues that are in front of us. now, this is something that we republicans have talked about for quite a period of time. that we had to get the nation's fiscal house in order. the reason we had to do this was because we had a spending issue that was in front of us. many of us felt like the running deficits of several hundred billion dollars a year was not acceptable, and we have watched what has transpired through the years as business continued to grow. -- deficits continued to grow. and the obama administration has run annual deficits of well over $1 trillion. now i'm constantly hearing from people, how did this seem to happen so quickly?

it has been decades in the making. and indeed, many of us have come to the floor regularly and we have talked about it and we have offered bills in a would address this. great example of this, every year i have offered bills that call for 1%, 2% and 5% spending reductions. we have the appropriations process where members have come to the floor and have offered amendment after amendment that would reduce what we are spending. we on this side of the aisle also believe that you have to have a budget. now, the president had a proposed budget and nobody wanted to vote for that. so we put it on the floor and i think it got one or two votes from the democrats. the country has not had a budget in over 1,300 days and there is a reason for this and that is

because the budget we have passed out of this house has gone to the senate each and every year and it sits on harry reid's desk. and he does not take it up. and we have passed this budget. and i commend congressman ryan, who leads our budget committee. we think we have to bring out-of-control spending under control. you have to restore economic freedom and ensure a level playing field for everybody. by putting an end to special interest favoritism and corporate welfare. we feel like that this administration's policies are driving up the gasoline at the pump and we need to be promoting an all of the above strategy on american energy production to help lower costs to create jobs

to reduce dependence on foreign oil, to strengthen our health care and our retirement security by taking power away, away from government bureaucrats and empowering patients and letting patients and doctors make the decisions that are important to them. now, as i said a moment earlier, so many times people have said, how in the world did we get here? as i said decades, decades in the making and then we went through the budget control exercise the year before last. in august, we had a select committee that was put in place. so we ended up with the sequesters and many of my constituents and i'm sure many other members are saying this, too, tell me what the sequester is all about.

this is what it is. it's going to take place on january 2 of next year, 2013, and the defense budget is going to see the brunt of these spending reductions. most everything is 2% across the board. spending, additional cuts, $55 billion per year that is going to give them a total of $492 billion in cuts and this is going to leave our military with the smallest ground force since 1940, the smallest naval fleet since 1915, and the smallest task ta call fighting force in -- tactical fighting force in the history of the air force. medicare could see $16.4 billion in annual cuts leading to the elimination of 496,000 jobs in 2013. 62,000 physicians are going to

be adversely impacted. and we know the sequester cuts are not -- are not fair to everybody. . we've talked about getting the fiscal house in order and cutting spending and fighting the growth in the debt. we've also passed some bills this year and i would like to remind the members of the body, mr. speaker, of these pieces of legislation that this house of representatives has already passed. and they're sitting on the desk over in the senate. now, we have on august 2 of this year, by a vote of 232-189, we passed the pathway to job creation through a simpler, fairer tax code act of 2012. that was h.r. 6169. it would provide an expedited pathway to pro-growth tax reform

in 2013. pro-growth. and to deal with the spending issues, to deal with the deficit, to deal with the debt, yes, you have to cut spending. you have to reform your tax code and you have to have a pro-growth agenda. that legislation, as i said, was passed on august 2. on september 19 of this year, we passed the national security and jobs protection act. that would deal with the sequester that i spoke about a few minutes ago. that passed with 223 votes. we also had, on may 10, the sequester reconciliation act of 2012, h.r. 5652, passed with 218 votes, and then the job protection and recession prevention act passed on august 1, and that was h.r. 8. it passed with 256 votes. and h.r. 8 is the one-year

extension of all the tax rates. you know, we keep hearing about the president wants to extend the tax cut for those making $250,000 a year and less. now, what that would do is catch a lot of our small businesses, about 20% of our small businesses have already said that this would adversely impact them to the point that they would be cutting jobs. just -- not growing, but actually cutting jobs. so, i would point out 256 members of this chamber on a bipartisan basis voted to extend the tax cuts for everybody. now, when people say, well, why can't the house and the senate get together? mr. speaker, our bill, as i've just mentioned, these bills are sitting on the senate leader's desk. dealing with the sequester, dealing with taxes, dealing with

the reform issues that we have in front of us. these four bills are sitting there waiting for action. the house has done its job. we've agreed, let's not raise taxes on anybody. that's only one part of this issue. and certainly the way the president is wanting to approach tax reform, his proposal would raise enough revenue to run the federal government for about eight more days. it's going to -- he's going to raise taxes on the top 2% basically to pay for 2% of the next year's spending. this is not sustainable. we do not have a revenue problem in this town. we have a spending problem. we have a crushing burden of debt. and i've brought some posters that i would like to show. if will you bring that up here to me, i'm going to use them. right up here.

this first poster that i want to call your attention to points out exactly what we have in this crushing burden of debt. you will see that in world war ii it lays out our country's long history with this debt. and shows where this burden has been passed. as i said, decades in the making. take a look at this. in 1940 the percentage of our gross federal debt was 52.4%. that's where we were. by the end of world war ii, the debt had skyrocketed. it was up to 117.5% of our g.d.p., in 1945, and then it peaked in 1946 at 121.7% of our g.d.p. now, that was through the war. but you know what? we did what americans generally do. when you got a problem, you get

in behind it and you get it solved. and so we doubled down on getting the spending under control. and you can see what happened and then our federal debt pretty much stabilized in the mid 30% range. and during the reagan administration in 1981 the gross federal debt was 32.5% of g.d.p. well, those old spending habits kind of die hard around this place. you know, federal government as a bureaucracy never gets enough of the taxpayers' money. so when the president took office, our gross federal debt was $8 -- 84.2% of the g.d.p. now, this takes us back to swearing in day in 2009. and that's the figure that neither party could celebrate. and both parties share the responsibility for that. this federal government spends

too much money and has for decades. today, according to o.m.b., our projected gross federal deficit -- debt is 105.3% of our g.d.p. and these are just simple facts. you can see what is going to happen if you look at where we are headed with this. now is where over 100%, you look at how quickly we're going to get to 200% and then 300% and 400%. this points out how unfair this debt is to our children and grandchildren. indeed, mr. speaker, i think this, the debt that we have in this country, is the ultimate cap and trade. what is happening? we are capping our children's

futures and we're trading it to the countries that own this debt. now, there are some countries -- let me point out who owns this debt. i've got another chart that i want to show you on this specific issue. because a lot of people will ask this and of course last year during the debates on the debt we had so many discussions about this. a couple of my colleagues and i went down and we asked who owned our publicly traded debt? we wanted to know who was buying this american debt. and of course we'd been frustrated with the fed monetizing some of this debt. and running the printing presses. we know that devalues it. we're frustrated that we are running about $4 billion worth of debt a day and that is adding to the annual deficit which accrues to the nation's debt.

that frustrates us. so what we've done periodically in my office, mr. speaker, is to go back in and check with treasury and see who owns our debt. well, as of right now china owns $1.15 trillion of our debt. then, number two on the list, is japan with $1.13 trillion of our debt. now, this is interesting. out of this debt number three on the list is opec. opec is an entity. that's the countries of ecuador and venezuela and india and bahrain and iran and iraq and kuwait and amman and qatar and saudi arabia and the u.a.e., algeria, ga been a, -- gabon, nigeria. they're now number three on the list and they own $267 billion of our debt. brazil comes in at number four,

$250.5 billion. and then number five on the list, new to the list, the top five list, the caribbean banking centers. now own $240.4 billion of u.s. debt. by the way, caribbean banking centers are the bahamas, bermuda, cayman islands, netherlands and panama. this is who owns us. this is who owns our debt. and this is why on this side of the aisle, what we continue to say is the spending has to be dealt with. we have seen -- we've heard from everybody. we are hearing from economists all around the globe. and they repeatedly say what we are saying, what we've been saying for years as week of come to this floor. is that we have a spending

problem. the spending has to be dealt with. we are drowning under a mountain of debt. you cannot continue to borrow nearly 50% of what you are spending and we think that it is problematic, if will you, mr. speaker. and it is disconcerting that the president doesn't want to talk about the spending. but is instead offering to raise enough taxes to fund additional spending for 2% of the year by raising taxes on the top 2%. i guess he's not worried about the other 98% of the year. this is how we've got together this under control -- got to get this under control, by reducing this spending. i'm so pleased to be joined by my colleagues who share the passion for freedom and for economic freedom and understand that economic freedom and political freedom are linked. and that this is a task that we

are passionate about, we are given to solving this problem. so that we remain, we remain a free nation. at this time i want to recognize the gentleman from west virginia, mr. mckinley, for his remarks and i yield to him the time that he may consume. mr. mckinley: thank you, congresswoman. mr. speaker. i rise today in a belief that america can handle the truth. abraham lincoln said, i'm a firm believer in the people. if given the truth they can be

depended upon to meet any national crisis. the great point is to bring them the real facts. to that end, speaker boehner has been candid about the fiscal challenges facing our nation and has put forth a balanced plan. however, as the president continues to promote his own plan, he seems to be deliberately not sharing key details with the public. first, the plan will hurt nearly a million small businesses by treating them the same as the wealthy americans. and secondly, the plan recognizes the central driver of our deficit. government spending. it ignores that. on the first matter, why should we lump the owner of a hardware store together with wall street executives and tax them at the same rate? when the president talks about the rich paying their fair share , he fails to mention that he also raises the same rate of

taxes on small businesses. earlier this week, the president told factory workers that his plan to, quote, ask the wealthiest americans to pay a slightly higher tax rate, closed quote, previously he said millionaires and billionaires can afford to pay a little bit more. but not once did the president publicly acknowledge his plan will raise taxes on owners of small family businesses. i'd like to give you an example of a small business owner who would fill out a tax form here at -- here, a 1040. this form is for a single woman. marleyed -- mary workman, who is in software development. she makes $50,000 in wages. the company makes $150,000. she picks up some dividends and capital gains so she has a total family income of $210,000.

under the president's proposal, mary would be hit with the same tax rate equal to those of millionaires, at $50,000 in wages. where's the fairness in that, mr. president? it's one thing to ask bill gates, warren buffett or donald trump to pay more in taxes but it's something else to penalize the small businesses of main street, like the software developer that i'm exampling. but this is not an isolated case. according to the joint committee on taxation, 940,000 small businesses will face higher taxes under this president's plan. these are not the wealthiest americans, but they're small family-owned businesses, they're located in every town across america. and according to the report by

ernston young this summer, 710,000 jobs will be lost by these companies if they're taxed at the same rate as corporate america. the president's proposal curiously would raise taxes on small businesses to as high as 39%. but for larger, mature corporations, the president is seeking to lower their tax rate to 25%. although reforming and lowering the corporate tax rate is a worthy goal, neither congress nor the president should give tax advantages to large corporations at the expense of family-owned small businesses. generally, mr. speaker, i'm opposed to raising taxes. however, if in the spirit of compromise congress is forced to adopt new revenues in order to achieve reductions, then congress should insist that

personal wages should be separated from small business income and taxed differently. this could be done using information already filed on her 1040. just like they do with capital gains, dividends and interest payments. now on to the second matter. the spending side of the equation. surely the president understands that raising taxes on small businesses and wall street executives won't sufficiently cover the deficit. despite this reality, he consistently confuses the public by ignoring the role that reducing government spending would and should play in deficit reduction. according to the office of management and budget, this administration's plan to raise the top rates generates an average of $43 billion a year. yet we're faced with a deficit of $1.1 trillion.

his new revenue, as you pointed out, madam congresswoman, that it's only enough to fund the government for eight days. during the campaign the president proposed that there should be $2.50 in new spending reductions for every $1 in new revenue. but now that the campaign is over his latest plan calls for just the opposite. an unacceptable ratio of $4 in new revenue and only $1 in spending cuts. speaker boehner is right. america has a spending problem, not a taxing problem. while the president has consistently told the american public that he's merely asking the wealthy to pay just a bit more taxes, when was the last time the president had also reminded the american public that we borrow 46 cents out of every $1 we spend?

. congress is chasing the wrong rabbit. raising taxes on small businesses is no worse than cutting social worthy programs. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke admitted that the spending levels of this administration are unsustainable, just as president clinton declared years ago, the era of big government is over. this congress needs to man up and declare the era of taxing, spending and borrowing is over as well. now is the time for the president to provide leadership and level with the american people and set aside the campaign rhetoric of class warfare division and envy. small businesses cannot and should not be painted with the same broad brush as

millionaires, billionaires and wall street executives. we must protect our small businesses and stop promoting the treatment of their income the same as the wealthy. at the same time, this administration needs to admit that raising taxes on small businesses will not help small businesses. we must prioritize our fiscal negotiations by putting spending reductions before addressing new receive news. mr. speaker -- revenues. mr. speaker, i came to washington to get something done. speaker boehner shows he understands the gravity of the situation and wants to find a solution. i stand solidly behind him. protecting small businesses and addressing our spending problems are too important for the economy to ignore. the situation demands that we deal in reality. once again, mr. speaker, america

can handle the truth if given all the facts. i yield back my time. mrs. blackburn: i thank the gentleman for yielding back and i thank mr. mckinley for his well thought-out presentation and putting this 1040 form up here by the i.r.s. and we are coming up on the 100th anniversary of the federal income tax which was to be a 1% income tax on the top 1%. now the 100th anniversary is february 25, 2013. mr. speaker, i think this is a grand time to say let's totally overhaul this tax code here in the united states and let's make certain it is fair. the gentleman talked about the small businesses that he interfaces with. a convenience store operator, a female who runs a seven-person

shop, a medical device creator, i have met with all of them in the last couple of days. they can't afford to stay in business, because guess what? they won't be able to make a profit. by the time they pay escalated tax rates and are treated like there is some wall street business, also the $63 per health insurance fee that goes on this next year, driving their health care costs up, the $3 medical device fee that is going to be applied to our mobile medical applications, you know, they're taxing everything they can find to tax. 21 new taxes in obamacare. this is why we are so passionate about solving the spending issue. and i want to welcome to the floor the the gentlewoman from

wyoming who has been a stalwart in making certain we cut what we are spending. cut, make some cuts, so we are wise stewards of the taxpayer money. mrs. lummis: i want to compliment the gentlelady from tennessee for organizing this group to talk about this essential issue that is coming before the people of this country as described to be a fiscal cliff. quite frankly, we need to look back at alice in wonderland to see from where we have come. and in the case of alice in wonderland, there is a line that says, if you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. and certainly in the case of congress, the republicans have laid out a road, it's a road back -- road map for america's

future. it is designed by our house budget committee, chaired by congressman paul ryan from wisconsin. and it lays out a plan for spending. it lays out a plan to sustain the viability and vitality of social security and medicare and medicaid into the future, to make sure that seniors now can enjoy the benefits that they've earned through social security, medicare and medicaid. and that the young people who are paying for it now will have those benefits available to them when they retire or when they need them. that is our road map to america's future. that is our budget. it passed this house unanimously through members of congress who are of the republican persuasion.

by contrast, the democrats have not tendered or put forward a budget for over 1,300 days. now tim tebow was a quarterback at the university of florida 1,300 days ago before his career at the denver broncos before his career in new york. so many things have happened since those 1,300 days in america. how could one important political party in this country not put forward a budget, a road map to where we want to go with our spending and to retire our debt? some things in our budget, the paul ryan/republican budget put forward is a pathway to eliminate our debt and our deficit without raising taxes

and while preserving america's social safety net. and yet, the other side of the aisle put forth nothing in response. and the answer is because, i believe, they don't know where we're going. so any road will get them there. the president's budget was presented by timothy geithner to the house budget committee. we asked him, when does it balance? at what point out in the future does it eliminate our debt and deficit? and the answer was never. never. our country needs direction right now. and the people who are here tonight want to make sure that the people of america know where

we're going. and yet, our president put forward a budget that never balances. and his answer now on this road to however and wherever we're going is, i want to tax people who can provide enough income for our nation to fund it for eight days. that's not a budget. that's not an answer. that's not an american value. that is not where we should be going. our own government accountability office has put together three volumes of reports that contain in them ways that we can consolidate spending, create efficiencies in government, save money and make our government smaller, morrow

bus, serve the people -- more robust and serve the people and save $900 billion a year. now that is three-fourths of the way to solving our entire deficit and yet, why aren't we grabbing that and running with it? why are we talking about raising taxes on the american people? on our small businesses? i come from a state where there are no big cities, madam chairman. i come from a state where the largest town has less than 60,000 people. i come from a state where there are no big four too big to fail banks, a place where you go to your local main street banker,

if you want to borrow money and present a plan to pay it back, a secured loan that comes to you and that you do pay back from people who know you, that know your reputation and your ability to repay. and yet through laws like dodd-frank and this mysterious creation called bazzle 3, which will put global banks and my little banks on main streets in wyoming on the same capital plan . that was never intended. that is so irrational. let's work together, democrats and republicans, to help our country rationalize and put things back on the right track. and focus on our spending problems. use the nonpartisan

congressional budget office reports to eliminate even half of the items that were -- that we're overspending. it would be a stunning victory for the american people. and we know how to get there. mr. speaker, and madam chairman, you are leaders in this caucus, this conference, this country. we in this house know how to solve these problems. what we lack is gumption, what we lack is a relationship with the president of the united states to sit down and talk to him about these issues. and one more thing, madam chairman. i realize we have very important remarks to be made from others tonight, but i want to tell you a story. there is a group here in the house that gets together once a

week and one day we had bob sceiffert of cbs news, a long time respected journalist. and i had the chance to ask him, when you look at the crises in negotiations that are occurring now between members of congress and the president, why are we having so much trouble communicating? who have you witnessed in your lengthy career that did it better? who would you hold up as an example? well, bob, first started covering lyndon johnson in texas many years ago, and he told a story about l.b.j. would have handled this. he mentioned that l.b.j. would

religiously watch the sunday morning talk shows. he would watch "meet the press." and he would watch the shows that were on the networks because that's all we had back then was networks. and he would watch the speaker of the house on those programs. and if the speaker would give an avenue for compromise, he had him on the telephone before the speaker of the house left the studio, and he'd say, mr. speaker, why don't you come over to the white house tonight? lady bird and i will put on some fried chicken and sit around the kitchen and talk this over i see an avenue to agree on 10% or 20% on where we need to go to solve these nation's problems. he would connect on a personal level and on a level that found

that crack in the arm our of failure to communicate and that's how he solved the problems. what we find now is that if the speaker goes on television and leevens a crack in the armour, say an offer to come up with $700 billion or $800 billion in new revenue, something that this president campaigned on, instead of having the president call the speaker and say, mr. speaker, i think we're getting somewhere, why don't you come over and we'll get together around the kitchen table and just talk about this. i think we're getting somewhere. . . instead the speaker is blasted by the press shop at the white house within hours of his making a presentation on the sunday morning talk shows. now, -- and people wonder why we

can't solve these problems? there is a way to solve these problems. we know what to do to solve these problems. i compliment the lady from tennessee for her hard work to solve these problems. to illustrate for the american people that there's room for compromise in washington. and i salute your efforts to reach out to everyone, to the american people and across the aisle, to make that happen. madam chairman, i yield back with my compliments. mrs. blackburn: i thank the lady for yielding back and i have to tell you i loved her alice in wonderland example. sometimes i feel like we should read "the emperor has no clothes" because we're spending money we don't have or maybe "goldylocks and the three bears" because it's never quite right what seems to be presented. by the way, mr. speaker, you know, i know our colleagues appreciate mrs. lummis and what she does, but when she talks

about the treasurer, the nation's treasurer coming forward and having something that never comes into balance, she knows what she's talking about. she was a state treasurer. in wyoming before she came to congress. she knows these issues. she knows how you balance a governmental budget. she is an expert in these issues. and to have a budget where you say you never plan for it to balance? well, when my children were growing up and they were struggling and something was going to be too much of a heavy lift or too hard, i would say, if you failed to plan, then you plan to fail. for this great nation, for the endurance of freedom, failure is not an option. and it is imperative that the fiscal house of this great nation be put in order. someone who knows hue to do that so very well, who has done it as a wife, a mother, a state legislator and a small business

owner is mrs. hartzler from missouri and i yield to you. ms. hartzler: thank you, lady. i sure appreciate your leadership on this issue, in drawing attention to the very real crisis that we have in this country and a very real opportunity we have. you know, the real issue that is before us today is that it's time for washington to stop spending money it doesn't have. and the fact that washington has a spending problem, not a taxing problem. you know, the president's proposal is a nonstarter and it's a red herring. it might sound good to some but it doesn't solve the problem. and we are problem-solvers. and that's what we're here to do. even if we gave the president what he wants and raised taxes on family business owners in america, it would only generate enough revenue to fund the government for eight days. it would not make a dent in our yearly deficit or reduce our

national debt. only by creating jobs and reducing spending will we balance our budget and the american people understand that. you know, lady, i would love to share with you a few comments that i received, i don't know about you and your office, but i received hundreds of emails and phone cause from people at who -- calls from people at home who want to weigh in on this issue. i love their commonsense advice. the best knowledge and expertise on these issues is from the people. it's not from the bureaucrats here in washington, d.c. and here's just a few of the comments that i received this week from people back home. mike says, the issue is not the raising of taxing but good, solid budget cuts. curtis from lebanon said, there's still a bunch of us out

here that do not want a spend and tax to government -- a spend-and-cut government. new taxes means new spending. i thought that was a great comment. especially with the president's proposal that he brought forth the other day, that he wanted more stimulus spending. so the cuts he was proposing, just like curtis said, were just going to be immediately funneled over to new wasteful stimulus spending. they would have nothing to do with reducing the debt or deficit. i thought curtis was right on. we had laurence from pleasant hill and he said, good morning, representative hartzler. i know we're being told we are at the edge of a fiscal cliff. we did not arrive there by not paying enough taxes. the federal government spends insane amounts of money and even by reducing us all to serfs, the taxes will not cover the spending. well said. here's jerry from lamar. she said, please stop spending our money. walk away from the table if they're not willing to stop wasting our hard-earned money. reform the entitlements and lower the taxes. nothing else in my opinion is acceptable.

do not go back to the clinton era. that administration led use in a recession and do not raise the inheritance tax. and then listen to this, she said, i am from a family of farmers. that will kill our family and many others and make it impossible to keep farms that have been in our family for generations. that is the most unfair tax there is. this country will not survive more blows to small business and the middle class. stop the insanity and stop it soon. and finally from patrigsa in jefferson city, she said, i want to voice my opinion on what's happening in washington right now. politicians have put us in this mess with excessive spending. i want to see huge spending cuts out of the federal spending before i see any taxes. now, that's common sense. that's the voice of the american people. you know, missouri is the show-me state. and i believe it's time for washington to show the

hardworking taxpayers of my state and every state that they understand it's time for washington to do what we do at home and that's live within our means by cutting spending, tightening our belts and not raising taxes on any american. washington would be better off focusing on job creation to raise revenue rather than taking more money from its citizens. so that's the common sense from missouri i wanted to share tonight and i sure appreciate your leadership on this issue tonight. mrs. blackburn: i thank the gentlelady. i know you're doing a telephone town hall with your constituents tonight and i know you'll probably hear some of the same things as you've said and i've heard from my constituents, too. i heard from one lady who is a small business owner and she said, you know, i wouldn't mind if my taxes went up. and it helped pay down the debt. but she was astounded when she

found out that the president wanted to spend this much and more and that her taxes would not go down. and, i mean, the money raised from the tax hike would be spent , plus another $1 trillion, and that she was not going to see the debt paid down. she was very concerned about that. well, coast-to-coast we're hearing the same thing and the gentleman from colorado, mr. tipton, is also on the phone with his constituents and we appreciate that you're here on the floor with us. i yield to the gentleman. mr. tipton: i thank the gentlelady from tennessee for this time and for her leadership on this important issue for every american. i'm glad to hear my colleagues continue to talk about the real issue that we face in this country. we did not tax our way to a $16.3 trillion debt in this nation. the federal government spent its way into that debt. the response -- the responsibility that we need to

have that comes from the show-me state of missouri, in terms of commonsense proposals, is something that needs to be heard in washington, d.c. this president has been focused on raising taxes. he is implying that washington, d.c., needs the money more than our people at home. if you come into my district, third congressional district of colorado, we go to pueblo, the real unemployment rate is now at better than 20%. my second largest community, grand junction, colorado, the real unemployment level is at 19.5%. my folks aren't working for an unemployment check. they're looking for a -- looking for an unemployment check. they're looking for a paycheck. they're looking for responsibility out of washington. and when we're looking at this fiscal challenge that we face, this fiscal abyss, a fiscal black hole, which is engulfing the economy of the united states , we need that responsibility

out of washington. how are our dollars being spent? are they being spent wisely or does washington continue to waste the efforts and the hard-earned capital of the american people? let me give you a few exampleless. we had $700,000 that came out of the pockets of hardworking americans, to be able to conduct a study on methane gas from dairy cows. now, the gentlelady from tennessee, you've got a few dairy operations in your state. i think we could have saved $700,000, it comes naturally. we need common sense when it comes to handling the american taxpayers' dollars. had another $137,530 of american taxpayer dollars that was used to be able to create a video game called layoff. that's what the policies of this administration have literally yielded. we are not growing the economy. putting people back to work.

as we approach this christmas season, we have families across the country right now that are hoping to be able to provide for their children. we can create that certainty by addressing an unwieldy regulatory process that's inhibitting our ability to be able to create jobs. and if washington needs revenues, then we know that government needs some revenues to carry out specific function, let's get the american people back to work. those folks in pueblo and grand junction, colorado, who actually want to be able to have a job. but we need to be very concerned once again, where's that waste of the federal dollars going? the gentlelady from tennessee noted that $1.5 trillion of the debt of this country is owned by china. so what does the united states do? we sent $17.8 million american to china to be able to study

environmental programs and social programs in china. so effectively what we did, we borrowed money from china to be able to send it back to china to be able to study problems there. let's get americans back to work. we took another $2.6 million to be able to train chinese prostitutes not to drink too heavily. i think we have a better use for american dollars. right now, america is facing a fiscal challenge a fiscal event. the problem resides not with americans being taxed too little, but government spending too much. we have a caucus that's dedicated to getting americans back to work, to bringing fiscal sanity into the process. and to never, ever forget it is not washington, d.c.'s money, it's the american people's money.

let's stand up to them first rather than for more and bigger government. with that, i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman, so well said. jobs, the economy, economic growth. mrs. blackburn: we have to have economic growth. continuing to raise tax rates, continuing to escalate spending, doesn't do that. what we want to see is a healthy economy for our future. a healthy economy is going to give us jobs growth. jobs is going to give us the economic growth and prosperity that is necessary for today, for tomorrow, far healthy economy in this nation. we know that a healthy economy is going to lead to continued economic freedom and thereby political freedom. we know that freedom leads to brighter futures for our

children and grandchildren. that's what we want. we want these children to dream big dreams and live in an america where they can come true. some of you share passion on this issue. steve scalise, a congressman from louisiana, recently elected as the leader of the republican study committee for the next congress. i yield to the gentleman from louisiana. mr. scalise: i thank the gentlelady for her leadership, not only for hosting this hour but for being so passionate about the need to control spending, and the need to get the economy back on track. she was talking about about solutions to avert the fiscal cliff. if if you look at how we got here, nothing gets resolved out of washington, it's an abyss that doesn't need to happen. if you just go back and look at the promises made by poth

because massachusetts when he was running for office, when he was running for re-election, he talked about working across the aisle he talked about bipartisan solutions he talked about it a lot and the american people expected that the president would keep that promise. but before the ink was even dry, before some of the states had confirmed and finalized their vote totals for this last election, the president comes out with a hyper partisan solution that's his approach. when the president comes out with his plan to raise taxes on some, not renew ores, to threaten middle class families with a tax increase if some people don't get their taxes raised, there already was a bipartisan solution to avert this cliff. just a few months ago, here in this house, we passed a bill with 19 democrat votes. a strong bipartisan vote to make sure nobody see theirs taxes go up, completely avoiding this coming crisis. we passed that bill and sent it

to the senate. of course the senate's refused to take any action on it. because president obama and his treasury secretary i think has on firmed this, they're eager to go off the cliff. they think they'll get political points by doing thises that political calculation by them to try to plame the other party and you know, let's have this crisis and go and push more taxes on the american people. if you look at what the message of this campaign was, there were a lot of messages. one was people wanted us to work together on bipartisan solutions and we've got those bipartisan solutions to avert this crisis but also to avert so many of the other crises facing this nation. another thing they said, probably the loudest thing people said is they want us to focus on the economy and creating jobs. that's what's the biggest concern for most families across the country. people in southwest louisiana. they're concerned about a

sluggish economy and in many cases it's the policies coming out of washington creating these problems. if you want to say, will tax increases solve any of these problems? let's look at history. we've combed through and there has never been a time in modern history where raising taxes got you to a balanced budget. never. it's never happened. last time that a republican house has balanced a federal budget was back in the year 2000. not that long ago. seems like a long time ago. washington has balanced its budget. we were living within our means back then. we weren't doing it through tax increases, it was done through controlled spending. the last time a democrat house balanced the federal budget was 1969. so maybe there aren't many people around here on the democrat side who know how to balance a budget. but you don't do it by raising taxes. john f. kennedy, when he pushed through his economic plan that got things going in the 1960's,

it was through tax cuts. go back and look at the quotes. some of the best quotes against growth in government, against tax increases, were made by john f. kennedy jr. when he pushed for a tax cut that ultimate was passed by president johnson. where do you get economic growth? look at those years in the 1960's when they cut taxes. a will the of jobs were created. in the 1980's when ronald reagan cut taxes, tremendous economic growth. one of the greatest times in history. ultimately, you look at the deficits in those periods it came because you had a congress that didn't control spending even with more money. you look at the bush tax cuts, that's what we're talking about here today. the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax rates. when those tax cuts were put in place in 2003, back after that happened, within three years, within three years of tax cuts, the federal government took in

40% more money. you wouldn't believe that if you listened to some of the mainstream media. you would think that cutting tacks takes money away from government, you need to raise taxes to bring in revenue. the opposite is true when you look at history. forget about what politicians in washington tell you who want to take more of your money to spend on big government, when they cut taxes in 2003 within three years, the federal government took in 40% more money. mrs. blackburn: if the gentleman would yield, i think that's such an important point to make is when you raise the rates, which is a regressive action, as you look at tax policy, what you do is drive down the revenues. it's what the president said, mr. speaker, is that he wants more revenue, the way to get to more revenue is to clean up the code, to actually lower your tax rates, and to generate more economic activity and growth so that we can begin to grow and

reshape our way out of this. you're never going to tax your way out of it. you can't spend your way out of it. and certainly, and i want to invite the gentlelady from new york into this, because she's a physician, she knows with all the obamacare taxes, that you're not going to be able to deliver health care. with escalating the taxes that are on the books pertaining to obama care. i yield to the gentlelady. >> i think the gentlelady for leading this session. indeed it's true. as of january 1, 2013, in fact, congresswoman, there will be five new burdens, new tax burdens on the american people related to the enormous cost of the federal takeover of our health insurance and in certain respects of our health care. for one thing, and this is

really, really a sad thing, right now families with special needs children can use pretax dollars, they can protect those dollars to spend them on care and even education for their special needs children in flexible savings accounts. as of january 1, 2013, one of the new tax burdens on those families and on every family that relies on a flexible savings account will be that they will be limited to $2,500 per year. that's it. now 2003 igs at some of the schools for a special -- for special needs children run to many thousands of dollars a year. $10,000 or more. used to be that families could use those dollars for their special needs children. now they won't be able to. does that seem fair? it doesn't to me. mrs. blackburn: you said there are five tacks that go on january 1. if your keeg -- if our colleagues want to look at this list of taxes are they listed on

your website? ms. hayworth: we will post a link. i'm not sure they are right now but we will post a link. taxes will go up on seniors, fixed income, on our savers, that's another burden the new taxes will be related to health care and there are three others other than the flexible savings. mrs. blackburn: as the gentlelady yields back to the gentleman from louisiana, i would think the republican study committee has this linked on their website so people can see the taxes that are already going to go up on them because of obamacare. and we reiterate that what we want to do is lower the spending and get the fiscal house in order and i yield to the gentleman from louisiana. mr. scalise: i thank the gentlelady from tennessee again for yielding and the gentlelady from new york for pointing those important facts out. if you look at an important point that was just brought up, under obamacare, there were more

than 20 different tax increases in obamacare, many of which, by the way, hit the middle class. sure in obamacare, the president went after the rich people he despices so much, he's happy to take your -- their money during elections, but he also went after middle class families this medical device tax -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mr. scalise: -- mrs. blackburn: the speaker is telling me our time has expired. we were joined by the gentleman from tennessee, i regret we're out of time. we have solutions, the fiscal house has to be brought intoed offer. i thank my colleagues for joining me on the floor tonight to help make the point to the american people, we are going to stay with this fight and solve the problem, our children and grandchildren deserve it. i yield back, mr. speaker.

the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. higgins, for 30 minutes. mr. higgins: thank you, mr. speaker. we hear a lot of the rhetoric on debt and deficit and i think it requires a recent review of history. less than 12 years ago, the united states budget had a $250 billion budgetary surplus. $258 billion. meaning we were taking in $258 billion more each year than we were spending. that budget surplus 12 years ago

was a direct result of having created 22 million private sector jobs in the previous eight years. underscoring the fact that the best tax policy is bringing back lost taxpayers to productivity, more people contributing to the federal treasury, and less people dependent on governmental programs. that will $258 billion budget tear surplus was used as justification to enact tax cuts in 2001, in 2003. those tax cuts disproportionately benefited the wealthy. the supply side theory if you ascribe to it, says if you give large tax cuts to the very wealthy, that that money will find its way back into the economy in new business

investment and job growth. eight years later, we have the worst recession in the history of this nation and we have the worst job loss in 60 years. in 60 years. this economy is not growing to the extent it needs to in order to produce employment. it's growing about 1357b9% to 2%, not enough to sustain the current level of employment today. meaning that without additional growth in this economy, we will have increases in unemployment in this nation. so what do we need to do? we need to invest in the american economy. we need to nation build, not in iraq, not in afghanistan, but right here at home in america. after the tragedy of september

11, 2001, we were chasing the losers of globalization, al qaeda, lane, two bad -- bin laden, two bad elements that had to be dealt with. but we should have been also chasing the winners of globalization, those economies like china and india that were investing in their own economies and their own people to produce job growth. that's what's needed here. those who do all the complaining about spending around here are those who are responsible for all the spending. in fact, in fiscal year 2013 we will have a $900 billion budget deficit. attributable to the bush tax cuts, $137 billion for the cost of war, $354 billion in the lingering impact from the

recession. what we need to do is invest in america, in infrastructure, in scientific research and in education. it's a different world. we need to compete more effectively and do what other countries are doing. why is it that germany, a country that has 1/4 of the population of the united states, exports more than what the united states does? because if you look at our tax code, that's broken, it needs reform, industries in the united states that are employing americans are given two-year tax credits and we expect those american companies to make generational commitments on a two-year tax credit. you look at places like germany, they're providing 10-year tax credits that sends a signal, a signal of certainty, a signal of clarity to businesses in

germany, that there is a commitment to embrace innovation and technology, to remain competitive in the manufacturing economy. manufacturing today is not labor-intensive. it's capital-intensive. you always have to be in a continuous improvement mode. but that requires one thing. it requires a confidence in the american people, a confidence in the american worker, in making the kind of commitments that are necessary to compete with china. i often hear people on this floor, every day, whining about china. yeah, china cheats on their currency. they treat their workers poorly. they destroy their environment. but the best response to china's growth is to stand up and compete. and not whine about china. most american jobs are not outsourced to china, they're

outsourced to the past. because we fail to make the kind of investments that are necessary to keep the economy growing. so what's the answer to all of this? every economist that you talk to, regardless of their political persuasion, will tell you that we have a growth problem. so how do you grow your economy? you invest in it. the new america foundation, a press contingentous think -- a prestigious think tank here in washington sends that we should spend, that's right, we should spend and invest $1.2 trillion in a five-year nation building program right here in america -- right here in america. that nation building program will create 27 million jobs over the next five years. adding $5.-- 5.2 million in the first year alone. 5.2 million jobs in the first

year alone. or 433,000 jobs each month. can you imagine if in the spring of 2013 that we had jobs reports that were showing that we were adding 400,000 to 500,000 jobs each month? this economy would soar. unemployment would be reduced. in the first year alone to 6.2%. and in the second year to 5.6%. this added growth in the economy would return $592 billion to the treasury in increased tax receipts. so the $1.2 trillion that you invest in rebuilding this nation , that you invest in putting unemployed people back to work, returning veterans from iraq and afghanistan, will produce almost $600 billion in economic growth while we're rebuilding the

infrastructure of this nation. and i will tell you we need to rebuild the infrastructure of this nation. the american society, a civil -- of civil engineers gives us a d rating for the quality of our infrastructure. the world economic forum says that we're 24th, 24th in structurally deficient infrastructure. in 2001 we made all those investments in the american economy, we were number two in the quality of our infrastructure. transportation for america says that there are 63,000 structurally deficient bridges in this nation. in new york state alone there are over 2,000 bridges that are structurally deficient. in my hometown of western new york -- wore clefter, new york, there are 99 bridges -- worcester, new york, there are 99 bridges that are structurally deficient.

cars drive on the bridges, carrying our families, that are structurally deefficient -- deficient. this is pathetic. the electricity grid in this nation ranks 32nd in the world in reliability, an embarrassment. the united states chamber of commerce, that should be leading this effort, that should be leading this effort to invest in the american infrastructure by investing in american businesses and investing in american workers, says that we lose, because of the poor quality of our infrastructure, $336 billion in lost growth over the next five years alone. the united states department of transportation says that freight, train, bottle necks cost our economy $200 billion a year or 1% of our economy. the federal aviation administration, air traffic delays cost $33 billion last year. we need to double spending on

ports by the year 2020 or lose, or lose another $270 billion in exports. china, keep complaining about china, but you know what? they spent about 9% of their economy on infrastructure, on roads and bridges, on doing nation building right in their home. europe spends 5%. the united states spends less than 3% of its economy on infrastructure improvements. so, the need is very clear. so as this congress, is washington responding to the need? well, not really. not really. think about this for a moment. this congress will spend $105 billion next year on rebuilding the roads and bridges of this nation. a nation of 300 million people,

where every objective observer understands the need for infrastructure investment. so less than $53 billion in each of the next two years. we can't spend any more, right? well, wait a minute, you just spent $89 billion rebuilding the roads and bridges of afghanistan . you spent $67 building the roads and bridges of iraq. those nations are 30 million and 26 million respectively. yet for a nation of 300 million people you could only come up with less than $53 billion in each of the next two years. when the american society of civil engineers says, just to bring your infrastructure to a state of good repair, it will cost you $2.2 trillion, it's weak. in fact, it's pathetically weak.

so the lessons about economic growth are found in our recent history. and the lessons of austerity, unfortunately, are right in front of us. in 1937 when the american economy was coming out of the great depression we showed signs of anemic growth. as opposed to spending more to invest in that growth, the president and congress pulled back in 1937 and what happened? the economy went back into recession again. in the 1990's, in japan, they tried extensive austerity measures, only to put that economy into a recession for an entire decade. in europe today and over the past two years austerity measures have prolonged. not taken that area out of recession. in greece, you often hear

members of this house who say the united states economy is going to be like greece. oh, really? greece is not growing. greece has lost 25% in its economy in the past five years. greece's economy shrunk by 7% this year alone. there's a 20% unemployment rate in greece and even higher for younger people. greece doesn't make anything that the rest of the world wants. the american economy is dynamic. the american economy always needs to be improving with education, scientific research and infrastructure investment. so, a rational system, a rational political system would respond much differently than what is going on here in this

congress. we're talking about spending cuts and allowing tax cuts that haven't produced economic growth to be extended. all of the people that are talking about spending did all the spending. they are the debt and deficit creators. if we want to experience economic growth we have to invest in this economy. and it's critically important to the future of this nation. medical research. we need to enhance not cut funding to the national institutes of health and the national cancer institute. you know, 30 years ago if you were diagnosed with cancer fewer than 50% of those who were diagnosed lived beyond five years of their diagnosis. because of a robust commitment to cancer research in the 1990's under a democratic administration, now the survival

rate beyond five years for adults is 60% and for kids it's 80%. you're investing into medical research, into scientific research to create the jobs of the 21st century. i know that from my community right in buffalo, in western new york. that gave the nation and the world cancer research. that gave the nation and the world chemotherapy. in 1904. making those investments have created a new dynamic economy in downtown buffalo which used to be a manufacturing economy. it's called the roswell park institute. the first comprehensive cancer institute in the entire nation is leading the job growth there with 12,000 new jobs. 12,000 new jobs projected to grow another 4,000 over the next five years. because you had a nation that

had the confidence in our scientific community to make the kind of investments that create a diversified and strong economy so that we're not outsourcing jobs of the past, we're investing to create jobs for the future. manufacturing in this nation is not dead. it will die if you continue to simply whine about china. you need to make the investments in worker training, in new technology, in innovation, to ensure that the workers that were required 20 years ago, go four or five on one piece of machinery, now you have one worker on four pieces of machinery. this is what you have to do in order to remain competitive in this world economy. all the books have been written. he doesn't argue that the american economy is slipping quickly or deeply.

he calls it the rise of the rest . that other economies are investing in their people and in their future. tom freedman and mike mandalbom who wrote the book "that used to be us: how america fell behind the world it invented" says that because of information technology, regardless of size, distance and increasingly language, every country now can participate in a global platform to realize the great economic benefits of globalization. you can't compete in the new world and the new economy without making investments in your people, your infrastructure and the scientific research that's important. china over the next couple of years will catch up to us in terms of the number of patents it produces. patent production is an indication of future economic growth. we used to lead the world for

the past 75 years in the number of patents that we produced. china will over take us. that's a -- overtake us. that's a direct result of not investing in your own people and in scientific research. as i have said throughout this discussion tonight, there are many other areas that we can go into. but the bottom line is this, all this talk about debt and deficit , 12 years ago we had a budgetary surplus in this nation of $258 billion. now we have record deficits. that surplus was created because we had the confidence to invest in the american people, to do nation building right here at home. and a strong, prosperous america is the best america in terms of our foreign policy as well. we've become the aspiration for the rest of the world, when america is doing what it ought to be doing, when it doesn't

fear its own people, when it seeks not to divide the nation but bring it together. you know, hubert humphrey once said that the greatest foreign policy initiative of the johnson administration was the civil rights act. now, although it was a domestic policy, what he was saying was that when america acknowledges its mistakes, when america lives up to its ideals, it becomes an inspiration, an inspiration for the rest of the world. all those areas of the economy that tom friedman writes about in -- that used to be us. we cultivated great artists but also the greatest economy in the history of the world. people that couldn't demonstrate

, rastapouvich couldn't conduct an orchestra in his free land, he -- in his homeland, he came to america because we are a free nation that celebrates the arts and produces economic growth and opportunity for generations of people. so tonight, i channel my colleagues in the united states congress to stand up for america, to do nation building -- nation building here at home by investing in their own people. not $89 billion in rebuilding the roads and bridges of afghanistan but $1 trillion to rebuild the roads and bridges of america. not $60 billion to rebuild the roads and bridges of iraq but $1 trillion to rebuild the roads and bridges of america. everybody here talks a great game about thanking our veterans for their service but you know what the problem is? we have returning veterans from iraq and afghanistan who

experience an unemployment rate of 30%. if you want to say thank you on behalf of a grateful nation, create an economy that gives them an opportunity to realize their full potential as individuals. 67% of the deaths of american soldiers in afghanistan are attributed to improvised explosive devices. 64% of the deaths in iraq were attributed to moimp -- improvised explosive devices. you know how you defite an i.e.d.? don't be there. don't be there. so we need to do nation building here at home. we need to grow this economy by investing in it, to reduce debt and deficit and create employment opportunity for future yen rations. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the

chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. dold, for 30 minutes. mr. dold: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, this institution, the united states house of representatives, enjoys a rich heritage that continues to inspire. through these magnificent halls and this great chamber, celebrated american leaders have walked. presidents have rallied a nation and monumental policy debates have echoed throughout the night to forge america's great history. this building right here is the fulfillment of what our founding fathers sought when skirmishes first broke out on the fields of lexington and concord nearly two and a half centuries ago. it's what each succeeding generation of americans stepped forward to safeguard in their

own way. it's what we have been entrusted to build on and ultimately gift to our children. here we are. working each and every day to prove ourselves worthy of the country we inherited, the people we are here to represent, and the limitless future we hope to build. mr. speaker, i decided to run for congress just over three and a half years ago. the basement of my home serving as our team's first office. we didn't have much space or even a sign on the street. but we were all driven by the idea and firm belief that our clint' best days are in front of us. that we can get our economy roaring again. it has been quite a journey from that humble start to working here in the united states capitol each and every day. but the great thing about america is that this story isn't

so unique. since its very inception, we have always been a place where what starts as small gatherings of concerned citizens, individuals getting to discuss and plan how to make the country even better can grow with hard work and dedication to actually achieve some of those very things. i first ran for congress not because i wanted to be somebody but because i wanted to do something. in fact, i wanted to do a great many big things. with so many millions of americans struggling to find a job and economic security, i wanted to get this economy growing and get our country back to work. with so many small businesses finding it harder and harder to keep their doors open each and every day, i wanted to fight for small business owners like myself and make sure that the federal government did a better job of helping to create an environment where small businesses and entrepreneurs can succeed. with our country buried in debt

and the problem only scheduled to get worse, i wanted to rein in the reckless overspending in washington, d.c. and advance big solutions so that my children, so that our children, could be free to reach their potential without previous generations' debt obligations holding them back. with at thes to our -- with threats to our national security grow big the day and with an iranian regime defiantly pursuing its nuclear ambitions, i wanted it to be not -- i wanted to be not just a vote in the congress but a leading voice. i wanted to advance vital measures to keep our nation and allies strong and secure. with the 10th district serving as home to so many great communities, great businesses, great schools, passionate leaders throughout our communities, bright people and treasured natural resources, i wanted to provide the thoughtful, independent leadership in congress that our

district has had and so richly deserves. with our nation seemingly torn apart by hyper partisan politics and gridlock, i wanted to prove we could still get things done. if we were serious about working together in good faith and finding common ground solutions to move our country forward. we've certainly gone through tough times recently but i've always believed in the resiliency of the american people to make things better. we have been able to achieve great things because our natural instinct is to aspire to achieve great things. this is why i am here. and this is why i have worked to accomplish every -- this is what i have worked to accomplish each and every day i've been in office. these past years we made sure to hit the ground running because that's what the 10th district expects. stretching north along lake michigan, the -- from chicago to

waukegan, from libertyville, pal tyne east to lake forest and lake bluff, highland park west through buffalo grove and long grove, i've been fortunate to represent a diverse condition gregsal district that asks its lawmakers in washington to tackle a wide ranging agenda. with so many good people at home in the 10th district and here in the united states congress, we have been able to achieve a number of things i will forever be proud of. in the house of representatives, we've kept a sustained focus on job creation and on creating a climate that better helps the private sector grow. i believe that this represents the best path to ensuring sustained economic opportunity and upward mobility for millions of americans. the house has passed over 30 bills that focus on job creation. i'm pleased that the house unanimously passed the jobs

focused initiative that i introduced, the global investment in american jobsing at this bill earns strong bipartisan support and i look forward to it hopefully getting signed into law before year end. but our efforts to help get people back to work most obviously don't start and end with legislation in washington, d.c. washington doesn't create jobs. the private sector, entrepreneurs and small businesses do. that's why over the course of the last two years, we put together a 10th district task force focused on jobs and also hosted several highly successful jobs fairs back at home. these jobs fairs brought together local hiring employers with hundreds of job seekers and made a real impact on people's lives. we also organized and hosted events with local exporters an

manufacturers instructing them how to leverage the export-import bank and new passages opened up by trade afwreems to grow jobs here at home. i supported thee things because i want to do everything i can to help businesses an workers in the 10th district and around the country succeed. i've been proud that my time in congress has allowed me to continue to champion the cause of small business growth. to make sure that small businesses know that they always have a strong advocate for their issues with me in the united states congress. over the past few years, i have had the pleasure of touring and visiting literally thousands of small businesses in the 10th district of illinois. to do this, i -- i do this so i can hear directly from our local business community and more importantly the thousands of constituents who work in these businesses. about what washington can do better. -- better to help them. we did employee town halls at places like cobart packages, we

talked idea with leaders of companies. i always enjoy visiting with our district's many store front business owners, whether on milwaukee avenue or one of the many beautiful main streets throughout the district. to some the big issue is we -- making sure we have smaferter, better crafted regulations to take advantage of the unique nature of an industry. we passed legger to reform bills to improve the quality of this process and written letters to ensure the rules are responsible and not excessively burdensome. we need regulation. we just want that regulation to be smart regulation and tailored regulation. not simply more of it. many employers talk to me about the importance of increasing

manufacturing and trade opportunities. i've been very happy to advance these issues in congress as part of a trade working group. and know that the trade agreements we pass with south korea and panama and colombia continue to have a pozzive influence on manufacturers in the 10th district and around the country. i'm please wed made progress on improving opportunities with russia but we have much more work to do in order to level the playing field regarding trade. other small businesses talk to me about the need to have a highly skilled work force that's better trained an prepared to take jobs in the 21st century. out of this grew my legislation, the back-to-work blueprint act which would inject money into the worker training program and ensure that skills of the worker match the needs of the employer. this strengthened my belief that

we need to continue to promote stem education in america's schools, science, technology, engineering -- engineering and mathematics. skills necessary to make sure students are prepared to take jobs in the 21st century. nearly every business owner shared the importance, mr. speaker, of access to capital and credit for their businesses. capital is the life blood of our economy. i'm pleased that we focused in on this in this congress with the passage of the jobs act and other legislation that came out of the financial services committee. of course many employers and small business owners and individual workers talked with us about the importance of keeping tax burden low and making sure our tax code was fairer and simpler. over the past two year, i have been proud to champion this through my active support for comprehensive reform that is focused on low rates, eliminating the lobbyist loopholes, broadening the base loopholes, broadening the base and focusing on economic growth.